Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Our Summer Vacation

I would like to say I have a lot of photos to add for the vacation blog. I can't say that because our camera disappeared. My watch I use for running disappeared too. I guess it was just one of those things.

My toddler and I flew into Reno on Friday, June 28. My older three children and my husband drove to Reno, leaving the same day. They got there on Saturday. We spent a few days in Reno. We let the children play games at the midway at Circus Circus and watch circus acts. They got to have fun with their cousins. They got to swim.

We then headed to Topaz Lake on Wednesday. The swimming pool there was much colder than the one in Reno. My toddler refused to go in the water. She cried. I wanted to cry after jumping in. It was horribly cold. I thought that since it had been in the high 90s, low 100s, it would have warmed up the pool. I was terribly mistaken.

We headed into Bridgeport, California, on July 4. We got there in time to see the parade. I quickly discovered that my cousin, his wife and children, had made the trip from a base in Korea to be there. My other cousin, his wife and children made the trip from the San Francisco Bay area. I was so happy to see them again.

We watched some arm wrestling competitions, my daughter and two of her cousins sing karaoke, the kids climbing the greased pole and looking for money in the haystack. We went to the bakery for the first time that my children can remember. There is always delicious food there. We had dinner at my uncle's house and then headed back to the hotel. I didn't want to stay for the fireworks because I worried that my toddler would fall to sleep on the way back to the hotel and be awake once we got there for a few hours.

On July 5, my cousin, his wife and daughter, a good family friend, my sis-in-law and I played mud volleyball together. There were 19 teams in the tournament. We lost our first set of games to the team that got either first or second place. We then won two sets of games, and then lost to the team that got second or third place. We ended up in fifth place, which we were very happy about.

My children discovered the joy of playing in mud holes. They then learned about sand burrs. They are painful little thorns that about kill your feet. I got them in my feet as I walked to the river to clean off between matches. The river was a perfect temperature. I let my children know to never go in the water without me knowing. I have always warned them against swimming in rivers or ponds because of the threat of the seaweed. It can wrap you up and hold you under. We all managed to get sunburned that day, although we had applied and reapplied SPF 50 several times.

After mud volleyball, we went to my uncle's house again and had fudge. It is the best fudge in the world. We would usually have it on the 4th of July, but it couldn't happen this year. We were happy to have it. We then returned to our hotel. They had all you can eat spaghetti, so my children had that and I had a salad bar. Vacation food had been weighing on me pretty heavily.

The next day was the softball tournament. There were six teams in it. Four of the people on our team, I knew. It was two of my brothers, one nephew, and my cousin. The other six players came from out of town to help us out. They won two and lost two. The last loss bothered me because the ump seemed biased. He made some very upsetting calls in what would end up being our last inning. They play timed games here and we had only a few minutes left. Sometimes it is hard to remember it is just a game, especially when I feel someone is wronging people I love.

After the games, we all headed back to Reno and had to start the goodbyes. My two brothers, and their families, that live in Washington had to start the trek home. We said goodbye at the hotel and they took off. It was a wonderful week with them.

We got a hotel room and headed out the next morning. My toddler did a wonderful job on the trip home. There wasn't much crying from her. I was proud of her.

The vacation has ended and it is back to life. I gained about 5 pounds on vacation which I need to work off. With how hot it is and the fact that I am training for a half-marathon, it shouldn't be too hard.